Save Article

Popular Leader Setting Stage for Expected Fourth Run in 2017

By

Mercedes Alvaro and

Dan Molinski

Updated Aug. 18, 2014 5:30 p.m. ET

QUITO, Ecuador—President Rafael Correa, in speeches and televised interviews, assures followers he'd like nothing more than to step aside when his current term ends. "The easiest thing would be for me to retire in 2017 as one of the best presidents in our history, as the people refer to me," he said in a recent televised interview.

But Mr. Correa, whom opponents characterize as a semi-authoritarian leader who controls all levers of power, has other plans. Ecuador's Constitutional Court, whose judges are allied...